Antiwar Violence

Recently, Skye over at Midnight Blue reported that an antiwar protestor at a pro war rally slapped her. (Maries Two Cents has pretty good coverage of the whole incident) The perpetuator was arrested, and Skye is considering legal action. I’ve been to Midnight Blue before, and I have always enjoyed that blog, and I hope that Skye is okay.

Unfortunately, what happened to Skye is not uncommon. Antiwar protestors frequently employ violence. There are many examples—for example, a group of antiwar people splashed stage blood on churchgoers during the sermon at Easter Mass at Holy Name Church in Chicago. Somebody recently exploded a bomb in front of a Times Square recruitment center. Berkley protesters vandalized a recruiting station. There are multitudes of examples of this kind of thing happening.

Most antiwar people claim to be devoted to “nonviolence.” The only problem is, “nonviolence” seems to be defined as “guns are not involved.” Anything else goes.

And antiwar violence is more or less accepted on the left. Mainstream liberals rarely condemn these actions—on the contrary, they either maintain a stance of moral neutrality (striking pro-war people is wrong, but so is the war) or outright support.

One can expect a certain amount of hypocrisy from the left about antiwar protesters—after all, most leftists are sympathetic to the their cause. What is inexcusable is the difference in the treatment given to protesters on the right.

Leftists regularly label pro-life protestors as extremists and radicals. Whenever a pro-life advocate goes too far and performs some inexcusable act (such as blowing up an abortion clinic), the media categorizes all pro-lifers as terrorists. Liberal prosecutors often attempt to thwart pro-lifers by any means possible, such as prosecuting protesters for violating racketeering laws.

Compare the opposition to pro-life protesters with the acceptance even the most extreme antiwar groups receive. They are rarely prosecuted for their indisputable crimes. The people who vandalized the Berkley recruiting center were not given the slightest bit of legal trouble. No prominent antiwar people are forced condemn the illegal actions of antiwar people—on the contrary, some, such as Michael Moore, encourage illegal behavior. Virtually all pro-lifers condemn violence in the strongest possible terms, yet they are still considered violent and dangerous by the mainstream media.

There is no justification for violent protests, whether the protesters are on the right or on the left. The difference between the two ideologies is that the right understands this, while the left does not.